Leading a business is time-consuming. There are myriad distractions vying to take your attention away from your core role of growing the business.  If you aren’t decisive and effective, you’ll soon be lumped with productivity bottlenecks that drain both personal energy and company momentum. Thankfully, we’ve got some time-saving strategies that can help you reclaim control of your schedule and focus on what matters most.

In business it’s too easy for an entrepreneur or business leader to mistake being busy for being effective. Working long hours with back-to-back meetings can look like productivity – but without clarity and boundaries, the important work, may not actually be getting done.  According to a study conducted by McKinsey, 61% of senior executives believe that at least half of the time they spend making decisions is unproductive. So how can you stop this happening to you?

Time-saving strategies are an essential tool for sustainable modern leadership. Streamlining processes, delegating effectively, and embracing automation can transform your day. Done right, these tactics free up energy for strategic thinking, innovation, and decision-making – all of which can lead to greater growth in your business. Here are some evidence-based tips every business leader should employ to better utilise their time.

1. Prioritise ruthlessly
   One of the most effective ways to save time is by focusing only on tasks that deliver real impact. The Eisenhower Matrix (dividing tasks into urgent vs. important) remains a powerful tool. Many leaders fall into the trap of handling urgent but low-value work, rather than carving out time for strategic priorities.  The fix? Review your to-do list daily and cut or delegate anything that doesn’t directly move the business forward. Treat your time as an investment portfolio and put more into the high-return opportunities.
   
   
2. Delegate with trust
   Effective delegation is a skill, not just because it frees up your time, but also because it empowers your team. Too many leaders hoard responsibilities out of habit or fear that standards won’t be met. But this can bottleneck workflows and burn time on details that others are capable of handling.  You should be clearly defining expectations, providing resources, and then stepping back. By learning to fully trust your team you free yourself up for higher-level thinking and decision-making. Just as importantly, you give staff room to grow, in the process increasing employee engagement and retention.
   
   
3. The algorithm is your friend
   Everyone’s talking about AI these days, and with good reason. Technology can be a business leader’s greatest ally. From scheduling tools to delivering automated reporting, letting technology take care of the smaller tasks can strip hours of repetitive labour from your week.  The upfront effort and cost of setting up automation pays dividends quickly. According to a Deloitte survey, businesses using automation in finance and operations reported time savings of between 60% and 80% in some high volume, transactional finance processes. As your accountant, we can help you adjust budgets to cater for tech upgrades and installations, and the adjusted workflows that will surely follow. Leaders who resist these tools risk drowning in avoidable admin.
   
   
4. Guard your calendar
   Your calendar is a reflection of your priorities. Yet many leaders allow it to be hijacked by endless meetings. A practical fix is to implement “meeting-free zones” (blocks of time reserved exclusively for deep work).  Another technique is the “two-pizza rule” made famous by Jeff Bezos: never hold a meeting if it requires more than two pizzas to feed the attendees. Meetings with fewer staff and clear agendas reduce wasted time and force clarity.
   
   
5. Communicate your way
   These days, business leaders are blessed with communication options. Tools like project management platforms, shared documents, and messaging systems mean you can allow communication to happen without the need for meetings or real-time interruptions. Allowing people to react to incoming information when they have space in their day lowers wasted time and increases focus. This helps everyone in the business, including you, to get more done.
   
   
6. Build decision-making frameworks
   Your job as a business leader is essentially to make decisions. The longer it takes you to make a decision, the more momentum is impeded. Structured decision-making frameworks (such as weighted scoring models) can help you speed up evaluations, reduce second-guessing and come to conclusions faster. This doesn’t just save you time, it also keeps others on track.
   
   
7. Invest in personal efficiency
   Leadership productivity is also about discipline. By simply changing some of the habits you’ve developed over a lifetime, you could immediately become more efficient. For example, you could answer your emails and phone notifications in batches instead of interrupting work to answer them as the notification comes in.  Introducing new habits and changing old ones will require daily diligence and repetition. Initially, it may seem draining, but over time you’ll find you are saving hours you can put to better use elsewhere.
   
   
8. Time as a strategic asset
   Leaders who learn to protect and optimise their schedules are the ones who build organisations that are sharper, faster, and more resilient.

Extending payment terms to 30, 60 or 90 days may feel like a smart business decision – but beneath the surface these terms could be draining your company more than you realise.  Read on to discover the many ways these “invisible loans to your clients” are hurting you. Then, learn how you can take back control.

Extending 30-, 60- or 90-day payment terms may seem like a simple trick to help your sales teams convert sales, smooth negotiations and boost customer service. What you may not recognise, though, is that those terms are not neutral commercial niceties – they are a form of credit.  When your business supplies goods or services today and accepts payment weeks or months later, it has effectively provided an unsecured loan to the buyer. That “invisible loan” has measurable costs: higher working-capital needs, lost interest income, distorted pricing decisions and elevated credit risk.

When you sell on extended terms, “accounts receivable” grows and cash on the balance sheet shrinks until the buyer pays. That increases days-sales-outstanding (DSO) and raises the working-capital requirement. If you borrow to cover the gap (common for seasonal businesses or those with tight margins) the interest paid on that borrowing is a direct cost of the terms you offered.  Even when you don’t borrow, the opportunity cost remains: cash not received cannot be used to reduce debt, invest in higher-return projects, or fund inventory when demand spikes. Over time the cumulative burden of routinely extended terms reduces agility and margins.

Unfortunately, many clients demand extended payment terms, and your competition may be prepared to accede to their wishes. So how do you ensure you keep the business without going out of business yourself?          

1. Price the finance
   Treat longer payment terms as a priced service. Build a transparent financing fee into orders that use 60- or 90-day terms, or publish two price lists: a net price for immediate payment and a financed price for deferred settlement. Customers accept explicit fees more readily than hidden margin increases, and your finance team can model return on capital precisely.
   
   
2. Offer structured early-payment incentives
   Instead of unconditional long payment terms, offer predictable early-payment discounts or dynamic discounting tied to actual payment date. A 0.5–1.0% discount for payment within 7–10 days often costs less than the buyer’s short-term borrowing and converts receivables into near-cash for you.
   
   
3. Underwrite and limit credit formally
   Move from ad-hoc allowances to formal credit applications and limits. Require a minimum credit assessment for extended terms, set credit lines tied to payment performance, and review limits at set intervals. For new or higher-risk customers, insist on shorter terms or staged delivery until a track record is established.
   
   
4. Design payment terms as part of commercial deals
   Make terms a negotiation item linked to value. Trade extended terms for commitments: volume guarantees, longer contract terms, staged milestones, or partial upfront payment. Where applicable, split deals into an upfront deposit and a deferred balance tied to delivery or performance to reduce unsecured exposure.
   
   
5. Use technology and supply-chain finance options
   Make payment easier with accurate, timely electronic invoicing, one-click payment links, and multiple payment methods. For larger B2B (business-to-business) accounts, consider invoice finance or supply-chain finance platforms. They enable buyers to settle invoices early and suppliers to access cash immediately, typically with transparent and lower financing costs than traditional receivables.
   
   
6. Make the invisible visible
   It’s essential to stop treating DSO as a passive metric and make extended terms a line item in cash-flow forecasting. Your accountant (that’s us!) can help you report the cost of terms monthly: financing cost, incremental bad-debt risk, and the foregone investment return on delayed cash. We can also supply a short finance note quantifying the cost and proposed mitigation (discount, guarantee, deposit).      
   
   

Up-to-date management accounts can track performance, reveal trends and highlight opportunities, ultimately enabling better decisions and stronger growth. Read on to find out what management accounts can tell you about your business and how you can use these insights to plan ahead, stay in control and ultimately improve your bottom line.

What are management accounts?       
Management accounts are a set of summarised financial reports. They’re similar to annual financial statements but they aren’t as formal, and they’re produced much more frequently – usually monthly or quarterly. They’re all about providing relevant financial data for informed business decision-making. As such, there’s no fixed format. Instead, management accounts should summarise and combine the financial reports you need to make smarter decisions. These financial reports might include some or all of the following.    

What can be included in management accounts?

What can management accounts tell you?

 The right set of management accounts can do more than record numbers – it can provide meaningful insights that help your business to perform better, plan ahead, and stay in control.

Climate change is real, and failing to prepare is guaranteed to have devastating consequences.  According to the World Economic Forum, climate-related risks are now ranked among the most severe global threats to business stability, and every business will need to take steps to minimise the impact. So, how can you prepare your business to not just survive, but thrive, in an increasingly unpredictable climate? Here are five practical approaches.

Climate change impacts the fundamentals of business operations. Rising heat affects productivity, floods and storms damage infrastructure, droughts disrupt supply chains, and new regulations increase compliance costs. Many leaders still believe their sector will be spared, but no industry is truly insulated. Just as one-third of startups fail because they never properly defined their target market, businesses that fail to assess climate risks may find their models undermined by forces beyond their control. The message is clear: failing to future-proof your business, will result in extremely hard times ahead.               

Start with the risks you’re facing
The first step is to identify which climate risks could most directly affect your operations.  These can be physical (think floods, wildfires, and extreme temperatures), or transitional, such as regulatory changes and shifts in customer expectations.According to the latest prediction models, South Africans can expect a hotter, more erratic climate with the country warming at about twice the global average. This means more very hot days that will hurt worker productivity and equipment reliability. On top of this, the country is also experiencing heavier downpours with increased flood damage. These damaging floods, such as those seen KwaZulu-Natal in April 2022 and the Western Cape in September 2023, will result in enormous insurance and economic losses and prolonged business disruption.

Despite the flooding, the country is also not in the clear when it comes to water stress. The 2015–2018 Cape Town “Day Zero” drought was devastating for car wash businesses but a boon for borehole drillers. Day Zero may have been avoided, but there will be more droughts in the future. All of these issues can lead to stock and agriculture failures, infrastructure collapse and process interruptions. A lack of water, for example, creates cleaning and hygiene issues as well as lower staff productivity. Insurers in SA have been reporting increasing weather losses and rising catastrophe claims, which will continue to feed through to higher premiums and excesses and tougher underwriting in high-risk zones. You can only build a realistic plan once you understand exactly where your exposures lie.          

Build a climate profile for your business       
Once you understand the risk categories, create a profile detailing how they intersect with your company. You need to consider your location, your sector, your suppliers and your employees. A warehouse on a floodplain carries different risks from a retail store in a heat-stressed city. Manufacturing firms may depend on inputs that are vulnerable to drought or fire, and employees may struggle in adverse weather conditions. Many exposures sit within the supply chain, where a small disruption upstream can ripple through global markets. For example, higher than usual temperatures may result in crops failing, or greater costs for HVAC and cold logistics services. Have you factored in these costs being passed on to your business? This profile should be updated regularly, as conditions, regulations, and technologies evolve and more is learnt about the severity of future weather patterns.

Segment your strategy
Not every part of your business will need the same response. While operations may require investments in resilient infrastructure or more efficient energy use, supply chains might need diversification or tighter contracts with suppliers to ensure continuity. Products and services may need to change as customers shift their preferences toward sustainable options. Segmenting your approach enables you to focus on the areas that matter most.

Use data to drive decisions    
Climate planning is most effective when it’s based on evidence rather than assumptions. It is vital that any planning you do is based on the data from climate models, insurance assessments, and financial analyses. Tracking information like rising temperatures, energy costs, and new compliance regulations will turn climate risk from an abstract concern into a measurable factor in your strategy. In South Africa, municipal climate plans are being adjusted to redraw floodplain rules and heat-safety requirements. Is your business going to even be compliant when they come in?

Talk to your stakeholders           
Your customers, employees, suppliers, and investors are able to offer different perspectives that could keep you ahead of any climate disasters. Customers can tell you what matters most in their purchasing decisions, employees may note practical changes to streamline daily operations and suppliers can share concerns that could highlight problems you had not foreseen. Talking to all of your stakeholders is more important than it’s ever been.

Many founders believe that sacrificing their own salary is a noble way to keep the lights on. In the early days, it can feel like a badge of honour: every cent goes back into the business, while you personally make do with less. Noble it may appear, but research suggests this approach often creates more problems than it solves.

Many founders see skipping their own salary as a noble way to fund growth. In reality, underpaying yourself often backfires. Research shows that 82% of small business failures stem from cash flow problems and unpaid founders can mask true costs, distort margins, and create hidden financial pressure – and that’s just the start of it.           

What’s the real cost of your time?
When founders refuse to take a salary, they are effectively treating their own time as free. In the scramble to conserve cash, they tell themselves they can wait to be paid until profits improve. But unpaid labour is not free. By not recognising this cost, you skew the economics of your business. Imagine you hire a manager to take over your duties. Their salary would immediately appear as a line item. By not paying yourself, you are masking a true expense. This can mislead investors, lenders, and even yourself about whether the business model is sustainable and prevent changes that need to be made. Pricing, margins, and growth targets all look healthier than they are, setting you up for shocks later. This is why savvy investors prefer to see founders compensated fairly. An unpaid or underpaid founder may seem admirable in the short term, but it raises questions about whether they and the company can endure the demands of growth.     

Burnout is real
Founders who delay setting a salary usually do so because they are waiting for a day when they feel the business has “earned it.” The problem is that this line keeps moving. There’s always another milestone, another round of investment, or another expense that feels more urgent. Meanwhile the founder is likely eroding personal savings, undermining their career advancement elsewhere and causing stress and sleepless nights in their own home.A survey by Kruze Consulting of over 200 venture-backed start-ups found that business owners who underpaid themselves for too long often burned out and quit before their companies reached key milestones. By paying yourself out, and minimising the financial risks at home, you can avoid the same fate.

Tax benefits
Not paying yourself a salary isn’t doing the company as many favours as you expect. All expenses put through the company (including salaries) reduce your company’s tax burden, meaning that the benefit you’re providing the company by not taking a salary is significantly smaller than you think.  As a general rule, it’s advised that you take 50% or less of the business’ net profits as compensation and save the rest for reinvestment, but each company is different. As your accountants, we can help you to structure the salary you pay yourself to ensure that the greatest benefit is achieved for all concerned – thereby lessening any guilt you may feel for taking a salary before the business is “ready”.

The effect on morale
One of the more surprising aspects of not paying yourself a salary is the impact it has on staff morale. Salaries are a hot topic in any business, and the founder’s salary is carefully watched by all who work there. Paying too much to the CEO or founder can lead to resentment, with staff feeling that difficulties on the floor are not shared in the board or that the effort at lower levels is not being adequately compensated. Likewise, founders who take no salary, or a significantly reduced salary, instil distrust and fear among employees who begin to suspect that the company is struggling and likely to go under. This can lead to job-security worries, lower job satisfaction, increases in absenteeism, quiet quitting and higher than normal staff turnover – all of which will impact the business’ bottom line.

Paying yourself is paying your business         
Refusing to take a salary may feel like dedication, but over time it will eat away at both you and your company. Underpaying yourself masks the true cost of operations, distorts financial planning models, breaks employee morale and increases the risk of burnout. Setting a realistic salary is not selfish, it is a structural choice that strengthens transparency, stability, and resilience. Let data guide the choice. Track your revenue, costs, and cash flow. And compare your compensation to industry benchmarks for founders at similar stages. Businesses survive when their leaders are healthy, focused, and honest about costs. By recognising your worth and paying yourself accordingly, you are not taking from the business, you are ensuring it has a solid foundation on which to grow.

The dramatic rise of SARS eFiling profile hijackings is being investigated by the Tax Ombud as a possible SARS systemic issue due to the number of complaints received from taxpayers regarding this prolific type of cybercrime. October is Cybercrimes Month, making it the perfect time to understand how your eFiling profile could be hijacked and what you need to do to stay safe from this potentially financially devastating risk.

The Tax Ombud has again warned South Africans about the concerning increase in eFiling profile hijackings, which has spurred the Office of the Tax Ombud (OTO) to launch a survey of taxpayers’ experiences and a systemic investigation into SARS. 
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What is eFiling profile hijacking? 
eFiling profile hijacking involves cybercriminals gaining unauthorised access to taxpayers’ SARS eFiling accounts. Once inside, they change the security details and banking information, and submit fraudulent tax returns to redirect the refunds into their own accounts.  Methods such as SIM swaps and phishing are commonly employed to get access to taxpayers’ eFiling profiles. Using calls and fraudulent SARS text messages, emails and letters of demand, scammers pose as SARS officials or tax advisors, often pretending to want to assist taxpayers to get their SARS refunds.Concerns have also been raised about possible internal fraud and insider involvement at SARS and certain banks.​          

SARS systemic investigation
While SARS acknowledges the rise in eFiling profile hijackings, it emphasises that although individual profiles have been compromised, the SARS system itself has not been breached. SARS adds that additional security measures have been implemented and that it is collaborating with financial institutions and the OTO to combat the scourge of profile hijacking.

How to safeguard your eFiling profile
SARS has issued the following advice:

• Avoid sharing your eFiling login details. SARS will never request OTPs, passwords or bank details via calls, emails or text messages.
• Use strong and unique passwords and update them regularly.
• Enable two-factor authentication for an additional layer of security.
• Regularly check your eFiling profile and submitted returns for any unauthorised changes.
• Verify your bank account on eFiling before a refund is paid, even if there was no change to the banking details.
• If you suspect your profile has been hijacked, change your login credentials promptly using another device, and report it immediately to SARS and to the SAPS as an identity theft case.

Rely on the expertise of a SARS registered tax practitioner such as ourselves.

If you want to scale your business, you need to know the numbers. But many entrepreneurs still treat financial roles like interchangeable parts. “I’ve got a bookkeeper, so I’m covered,” they say. Worse still: “My accountant only helps me with my taxes”. Understanding the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant is essential for the smooth operations of your business. Each plays a distinct role in keeping your financial house in order – and mistaking one for the other can cost you time, clarity, and opportunities to grow.

You can’t grow a business without a clear handle on your numbers. But too many business owners still confuse bookkeeping and accounting. These roles do have some overlap, but they serve different purposes. Assigning tasks to the correct person means better insights, sharper decisions, and a clearer path to growth.          

In a nutshell
A bookkeeper keeps your financial records accurate and current. They handle the day-to-day recording of transactions, issuing of invoices, reconciling of bank statements, and making sure everything lines up. Think of it as the hygiene of your business finances. If it’s not being done regularly, problems start to build up fast. Bookkeeping doesn’t involve complex analysis or forecasting – but without it, the numbers your accountant sees will likely be wrong, or missing entirely.

An accountant works further up the chain. Using the data that bookkeepers maintain, they prepare financial statements, analyse performance, give tax advice, and help shape business strategy. A good accountant doesn’t just analyse tax obligations, they help you understand your business and shape strategy for the future. That could mean spotting ways to reduce your tax bill, warning you about cash flow risks, or helping you build the case for a bank loan or investment round.

Why does this distinction matter?
With margins so tight nowadays, many people are asking their bookkeeper to perform both roles. This may seem to make sense, but it is like asking your mechanic to design your next car. When the work gets confused, important details fall through the cracks – and that confusion grows as your business does. When they’re starting out, many smaller businesses get by with only a bookkeeper. At that stage, the financial picture is usually simple: a few suppliers, a few clients, not too many moving parts. But as the numbers grow, so does the complexity. You start needing help with budgeting, forecasting, asset management, and tax structuring. That’s when your business begins to need financial insight. Hiring an accountant doesn’t mean replacing your bookkeeper. It means building a team where each role is clear, and the right questions get asked at the right time. To do that, businesses need to stop seeing the bookkeeper as a junior accountant, or the accountant as an expensive version of a data clerk.

Bound by the law
There’s also a regulatory edge. Bookkeepers aren’t usually qualified to give tax advice or submit signed-off financials. If they do, and it’s wrong, you can be held liable. Accountants, on the other hand, carry the qualifications, experience, registrations and liability cover to advise on matters that can make or break your year-end. Getting that wrong can mean more than just fines and tax penalties, it can lead to missed deductions, misreported income, or worse. 

So, how do you decide who you need?
Start by asking what you’re struggling with. If you’re drowning in paperwork, if supplier payments and invoices are slipping through the cracks, or if your reports don’t match your bank balance, that’s a bookkeeping issue. But if you don’t know how much tax you’ll owe in six months, if you’re unsure whether you can afford to hire, or if the bank asks for documents you can’t produce, you’re in need of an accountant. It’s also worth looking at timing. Bookkeeping is a weekly or even daily discipline. Accounting is more periodic – think monthly reports, quarterly planning, and annual tax returns. Many accounting firms offer bookkeeping as an add on service, but you should not allow this to blur the lines between the two roles. A well-run business usually benefits from both.

Finally, don’t fall for the idea that either role is a luxury. Clean books keep you out of trouble. Smart accounting helps you make the most of what you have. Together, they turn your financials from a source of stress into a foundation for growth.

There’s only one way to ensure you really have the last word about what happens to your assets – and that is a professionally drawn up and updated will. Read on to find out why it is so important that you have the last word. And learn how we can help you to draft a valid and tax-efficient will – or ensure your current will is up to date.

Having “the last word” is defined as having “the final decision-making power or authority in a matter.” South Africans have the right to have the last word about how their assets are disposed after their passing – but exercising this right requires a well-drawn and up-to-date will … a job that is best left to the professionals. Sadly, estimates suggest that as many as 70% of South Africans do not have a will. This means that someone else – perhaps, even, a total stranger – will get the last word on important decisions that significantly impact those who are left behind. 

If you die without leaving a valid will…

• Unhappiness and conflict among family members are common when there are no clear instructions on how to distribute your assets.
• Your belongings and assets will instead be distributed according to our laws of intestate succession. This means that you have lost your opportunity to decide who will inherit what from you. For example, your spouse may inherit a lot less than you wanted them to.  
• The Master of the High Court will appoint an executor without knowing your wishes in this regard. This takes a long time, may involve extra and unnecessary costs, and possibly leaves your family to deal with a stranger who has no insight into your family situation or your wishes. This only adds to your family’s burden in the aftermath of your death.     
• If you have minor children, the assets you leave behind will be sold and the proceeds will be held by the Guardian’s Fund until they are 18. Not only are there concerns over the Fund’s resilience to cyber threats and general administration, but its generic investment strategy is unlikely to achieve anything more than minimal capital growth. Your children’s guardians will also have to justify withdrawal requests to fund expenses (living, educational, medical etc.) – a slow and bureaucratic process.           

How to draw up a will?
While it is legally possible to draft your own will, we strongly urge you to consult us when preparing this vitally important document. Drafting your own will is fraught with danger. Not only may it be invalid, but it might result in your last wishes not being fully honoured. What’s more, there’s a strong chance of it risking estate planning and tax inefficiency. We can provide reliable advice regarding problems which may arise regarding your will. And we have the necessary knowledge and expertise to ensure that your will is valid and complies with your wishes.

The most common complaints against SARS (unsurprisingly, delayed refunds are at Number 1) are referred to as ‘systemic issues’ because they impact so many taxpayers. We don’t just apply our expertise to help you avoid known systemic issues in your routine SARS interactions. We are also ready to fast-track the resolution of systemic issue complaints through the Office of the Tax Ombud.  

In SARS jargon, a ‘systemic issue’ is the underlying cause of a complaint that affects many taxpayers. These systemic issues may have to do with the way SARS systems function, how SARS drafts and implements policies or procedures, or even how it applies or disregards legislative provisions. Over the years, collaboration between the Office of the Tax Ombud (OTO) and SARS has reduced the number of systemic issues from more than 20 to seven.

 7 systemic issues at SARS

1. Delays in payment of refunds.
2. Non-adherence to dispute resolution timeframes and rules under the Tax Administration Act (TAA).
3. Undue hardship caused to taxpayers resulting from the way the Tax Compliance System (TCS) is designed.
4. Failure to respond to requests for deferred payment arrangements within the prescribed turnaround time (21 days).
5. Failure to respond to requests for a compromise within the prescribed turnaround time (90 days).
6. Failure to respond to requests for a suspension of payment within the prescribed turnaround time (30 business days).
7. Repeat verification for reduced assessments or for cases with the same risk and supporting documentation.

How do systemic issues affect my business?
Delayed refunds – especially VAT and diesel refunds – create massive cash flow challenges for companies, inhibiting growth and increasing the risk of business failure, especially for small businesses. Similarly, the design of SARS’ Tax Compliance System has resulted in companies losing contracts or tenders, or not being paid by corporate or government clients. This is because the system may flag a company as non-compliant where payment arrangements or suspension of debt agreements are in place. The system also reflects non-compliance for immaterial transgressions – including, for example, minimal debt amounts such as R1 and outstanding returns or payments for which arrangements have been made with SARS; or even fraud committed by SARS or ex-SARS officials.

SARS’ non-adherence to dispute resolution timeframes and rules, and its delayed response to requests for payment arrangements, not only infringe on taxpayer’s rights, but also expose taxpayers to prolonged periods of ‘non-compliance’, despite their efforts to become compliant. Repeat verification cases cost time and money, adding a further unnecessary compliance burden on taxpayers. 

How we protect your interests
While these systemic issues are being addressed by SARS, and monitored by the Tax Ombud, SARS suggests that taxpayers rely on the expertise of a registered tax practitioner. As your SARS-registered tax practitioner, we protect your interests and rights as a taxpayer in the following ways:

• Careful compliance and excellent record-keeping are always the first line of defence when dealing with SARS – we help ensure that you have the correct processes in place to ensure both.
• Our team of tax experts can professionally and correctly represent your business in the event of a tax dispute with SARS.
• We understand the service levels and time frames outlined in the TAA and SARS’ Service Charter and we are experienced in using the official channels for complaints, including SARS’ Complaint Management Office.
• We easily recognise systemic issues and can help you escalate these challenges directly to the Tax Ombud – the quickest and most effective way to deal with most complaints relating to systemic issues.
• For other issues, after all avenues of recourse within SARS have been exhausted, we can assist your business to access the free and independent recourse offered by the OTO.
• We can advise your business on obtaining tax risk insurance protection against SARS tax audits and related disputes.

Many entrepreneurs assume business finance is all about pure logic. But behavioural research tells us a completely different story. Entrepreneurs often pick up gut-level rules and emotional shortcuts that, over time, can distort reality, mask cashflow problems and result in delayed decision making. These are the emotion-based decisions you should be looking out for – and avoiding.

You didn’t start your business to become a psychologist. But understanding the way emotions creep into your decisions could be the difference between plain sailing and struggling to stay afloat. Entrepreneurs are often painted as rational, profit-driven operators. In reality, money decisions are rarely made in a vacuum. Stress, fear, pride and even guilt, can all shape your thinking. The danger is, emotional decision-making doesn’t feel emotional. It feels instinctive, even responsible. But it can erode cash flow, distort pricing, or block growth, while giving you the false sense that you’re doing the right thing. The goal isn’t to ignore emotion. It’s to recognise where it’s hiding, so it doesn’t quietly sabotage your progress.

“We set prices by gut feeling”       
Pricing should be based on data, not by personal sentiment. In reality neither owners nor customers inherently “know” what a fair price is. Research on psychological pricing shows that people usually asses value by comparison, not by intuition.  When owners set prices based on how they feel instead of cost and market demand, they often undercharge. In short, emotional pricing leaves money on the table. The fix is to base prices on costs, competition, and demonstrated customer value instead of just a hunch.

“Raising prices will make customers revolt”     
Price increases make many owners nervous, but fear is often worse than reality. A report from the U.S Small Business Development Centre found that , when questioned , owners commonly say “I’m afraid I’ll lose customers if prices go up”. In practice, customer loyalty depends on quality and service, not just on getting the lowest price. Studies note that some customers might switch if you raise prices – but most (or all) will stick around if value remains high. In fact, a modest price hike often increases profit more than it costs in lost sales. Raising prices at the right time (e.g. after adding value or amid industry-wide inflation) is usually safe and can strengthen a business. 

“Our sales will meet this forecast”           
Owners tend to be optimistic about sales, but wishful thinking skews forecasts. Sales teams frequently rely on “gut” when updating projections, which breeds overconfidence. In other words, they estimate sales based on hope rather than hard signals. Behavioural finance experts call overconfidence bias “one of the most common issues in financial decision-making”. The result is frequent forecasting errors: too much inventory, staffing overruns, or cash shortfalls when sales fall short. To counter this, successful owners use data and regular feedback loops. They treat projections as hypotheses to test, not guaranteed outcomes.

“I can do the books myself”
Many business owners feel they must handle all finances alone, but that can backfire. It’s common to believe nobody knows your business “as well as you do,” and thus avoid outside help. This reluctance to delegate leaves owners overworked and stressed. Bringing in an accountant frees up time and adds expertise. Trusting trained professionals with your money management usually strengthens control (and sanity), rather than eroding it. 

 “We’ll fix financial problems later”
Procrastinating on tough money decisions is a costly mistake. Delaying the reality-checks, like overdue invoices, unpaid taxes, or necessary budget cuts, may feel easier now, but hurts later. Studies of business strategy show that postponing financial actions leads to “immediate cash flow constraints” and lost growth opportunities. For instance, skipping a pricing review or ignoring rising expenses might result in steep interest charges or a cash crunch. In short, avoiding unpleasant choices compounds risk. The smarter move is to tackle issues early: tighten budgets, renegotiate costs, or adjust plans when there’s still time to gain an advantage.

What’s the takeaway?
Businesses can often counter these emotional pitfalls by simply bringing data and perspective into their decisions. We highly recommend seeking outside input and using structured decision frameworks to ensure actions are taken based on clear reports and forecasts.